When The Karate Kid sequel/spin-off Cobra Kai was first announced, I was very skeptical.
And if I’m being honest, not all that interested.
The original Karate Kid is one of my favorite movies.
I didn’t like the idea of tampering with an iconic movie I loved.
It’s why I’ve never watched The Next Karate Kid or the remake with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.
Was Cobra Kai really necessary?
I wasn’t sold on that idea.
When the show was released on YouTube as a subscription show, despite good reviews, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it.
A year later I went to see the 35th Anniversary screening of The Karate Kid.
Before the movie was an interview with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, and a preview of the second season of Cobra Kai.
Something in that interview and the preview stirred me to give Cobra Kai a chance.
It was one of the best entertainment decisions I’d made in a long time.
One of the worst was waiting as long as I did to check it out.
But at least I was able to binge both seasons back to back.
https://youtu.be/MLpyi-oVoIY
Cobra Kai has the heart of The Karate Kid and its great sense of humor.
The series picks up 34 years after Daniel LaRusso and the Crane Technique put bad guy bully Johnny Lawrence face-first on the mat.
We learn that Daniel went on to have great success and a loving family, but things went very much the other way for Johnny.
While Cobra Kai is primarily Johnny’s story, it’s also a continuation of Daniel’s, and a reignition of their rivalry.
Showing things from Johnny’s point of view obviously creates the need to both humanize him as well as make him a sympathetic character.
The show pulls this off without diminishing who Johnny was (or who we thought he was) in the original film.
That’s one of the reasons Cobra Kai changed my mind and hooked me as it did.
The storytelling is true to not only Karate Kid, but also Parts II and III.
Each season concludes with an episode full of some incredible fights — and of course a surprise tease of things to come.
There is plenty of fan service in Cobra Kai, but the nostalgia is well placed and never reaches a point of high cheesiness.
Okay, maybe it does, but I don’t care.
This is a great show.
If you’re a fan of Daniel-San and Mr. Miyagi, then Cobra Kai is without a doubt for you.
The worst thing about Cobra Kai was the fact that it was on YouTube as a premium show.
Few people wanted to pay for another streaming service. I’m included in that group.
I used a free trial to watch both seasons.
But now Cobra Kai is on Netflix where a lot more people can watch it.
And according to this trailer, Season 3 is only a few months away.
I plan to watch the first two seasons again.
Why?
Because while Cobra Kai may not have been necessary, it’s a pretty awesome show.
If you don’t subscribe to Netflix, you can tap this link to buy Cobra Kai from Amazon.
That is an affiliate link, so I will get a commission from your purchase.
Now if my gushing fanboy recommendation and the trailer at the top isn’t enough to convince you to give Cobra Kai a chance, the first episode of the show is still available to watch on YouTube for FREE.
https://youtu.be/_rB36UGoP4Y